Free Here Comes Trouble by Andra Lake Page A

Eighteen
September 30 th .”
    “Did you skip a grade or something?”
    “No, my parents just didn’t want to hold me
back. I was already starting to read and ready for grade one.”
    Melissa sniffed, a habit I was going to get
very used to.
    I sat down on the edge of what would be my
bed and glanced around the tight room. Yep, this was definitely a
single that had been converted. “What about you?”
    “Nineteen.” The way she said it, I knew
she’d assumed some sort of roommate superiority over me. “You’re
kind of late getting here.”
    “I had to work up until yesterday.”
    “You missed the best party ever.”
    I turned in the direction of the voice to
see a short, blonde girl in our doorway. She had been speaking to
me, but her eyes were still on Melissa, and she looked wary.
Apparently Melissa didn’t make anyone comfortable.
    “This is Alexis,” Melissa said. “Or Mini-me
as I’m going to call her.”
    Mini-me? Seriously?
    I smiled tightly. “Except I look nothing
like you.”
    “I meant because you’re so small and young.”
She smiled smugly.
    Sensing the tension in the room, our visitor
piped up. “I’m Carly. I live in the single room next door.”
    Lucky girl . I smiled. “Nice to meet
you.”
    “So yeah there was this epic party in
another building—all the freshman in residence pretty much. It got
pretty crazy. Everyone moved to Quad and drank until Campus Cops
kicked us out. Too bad you missed it.” Then she quickly rushed to
add, “But there’s an orientation for this group of buildings in
Quad today at two. We were just going to grab lunch and go. Do you
want to meet us there?”
    “Sure.”
    “Great.” Melissa stood up abruptly and gave
me a tight smile. “See you there then.”
    The two girls left and I sighed, fell back
on my bed. Alone time. Finally. I was just about to get up and
close the door when another girl stuck her head in. She was tall
and super thin with wavy brown that ended at her chin.
    “We were wondering when you’d come,” she
smiled. “Lex, right? I’m Lena.”
    “Alexis,” I corrected.
    “You should go with Lex,” she advised
solemnly. “It sounds cool.”
    Right. I bit my lip. Apparently everyone had
a name for me. “Um, are you going to that orientation thingie?”
    Lena laughed. “I don’t do organized events.
Have fun though.” And then she left.
    I spent the next hour unpacking my clothes
and personal items and putting sheets on my bed. Then I sprinted to
Quad to meet Carly and Melissa for the orientation. I wasn’t an
organized events person either, but I wasn’t going to be rude when
Carly was trying to include me. And even if Melissa seemed
controlling and, well, bitchy, I had to put in an effort. She was
going to be my roommate for an entire eight months. The last thing
I needed was to make an enemy my first day arriving.
    In the middle of the Quad was a large
fountain. Only when I got close did I realize how massive it
actually was. It was situated in a circle that had been cut out of
the earth like an amphitheatre with stairs leading down to it. On
the ledge of the fountain, four people—two girls, two guys—stood
wearing red sweatshirts with the words “Resident Coordinator”
written across them. I searched the crowd until I found Melissa and
Carly standing at the top of the stairs. A female voice welcomed us
as I pushed through the crowd toward them.
    “Today we’re going to play an icebreaker to
help you get to know each other. When Ian calls your name, come
down and get your piece of fabric. After all the names are called,
we’ll make our way to the forest on the edge of campus where we’ll
explain the rules of the game.”
    I stepped out from the crowd to stand beside
Carly, and that’s when I saw him. He was holding a sheet of names
and waving a piece of orange fabric over his head, his eyes
scanning the crowd as he waited for someone to come down and take
it from him.
    I actually had to blink to make sure he